HELSINKI, Finland, Feb. 15 (UPI) -- A Finnish research center says it has developed a pocket-sized accessory that turns an ordinary camera phone into a high-resolution microscope.
The VTT Technical Research Centre says the device is accurate in obtaining images with a resolution of just one-hundredth of a millimeter.
Various surfaces and structures can be examined in microscopic detail and the phone's camera can take sharp, high-resolution images that can be forwarded as MMS messages, the researchers said.
The printing industry, consumers, security businesses and even healthcare professionals can benefit from the device, a VTT release said Wednesday.
An ordinary mobile phone becomes an instant microscope when the thin, magnetic microscope module, complete with LED lights to illuminate the surface or structure being examined, is attached in front of the camera's normal lens, it said.
The macro lens of the mobile phone microscope magnifies objects in a field of view 2 x 3 millimeters.
Unlike traditional tubular microscopes, the device can be easily carried in a user's pocket, the researchers said.
